Dark Knight Primed to Topple Star Wars

Despite a healthy $12 million opening Wednesday, Pineapple Express went down in smoke over the weekend with a $22 million gross that failed to nudge The Dark Knight out of the top slot.

The first movie since 2003’s Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King to win the box office four weekends in a row, Warner Bros.’ Batman-Joker epic took in another $26 million last weekend.

That pushes the film’s domestic total to $441 million. Surpassing Shrek 2, The Dark Knight is expected to topple current No. 2 all-time grosser Star Wars ($461 million) by next weekend.

Paul Dergarabedian of Media by Numbers tells Wired.com: "For a movie to make this much money, this fast, is unprecedented." Dergarabedian credits Dark Knight‘s sustained momentum to the fact that "it actually lives up to the hype."

"The previous Batman movies opened on average at $47 million, whereas Dark Knight made a record $67 million on opening day alone," Dergarabedian said. "What’s the difference here? I lay the credit for this movie’s success at the doorstep of Heath Ledger’s (pictured) performance."